Polka Dot Rock

Hey Michelle! I will keep my thought on it updated for you! Speaking of which... I'm only about 70+ pages in but I'm loving The Tenderness of Wolves thus far: it's extremely atmospheric and very readable. It's establishing a lot of characters, who are all so interesting that I want to know more. I really like how Penney switches narrative point-of-view between third person for the majority of the time, then uses first-person narration for Mrs Ross (who's a very intriguing lady...). Really enjoying it, just wish I had chance to read more this week! Still, it's the weekend very soon, so some quality 'sit down and tell the world to shut up' time is ahead!

Ah excellent news! Thanks lowek

Oh, I love Unless! Wonderful book. And my mum has Human Croquet (also from a charity shop!) and she really enjoyed that... So great finds, V!

Say you have a young cousin that's mysteriously been reunited with your family and that you've been asked to buy them a book. Then, if you're found reading it, look all innocent and say you were asked to veto it before handing it over

Updated list Started The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney last night: wonderfully powerful beginning. In fact, I can't remember the last time I was so impressed by the opening pages of a novel! However, that means it has to continue to impress Very promising start though! Went for my usual lunchtime walk and ended up on a cheap book spree: The Woman Who Walked Into Doors by Roddy Doyle and Sense & Sensibility by Jane Austen for 99p each, whilst The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett and Finn Family Moomintroll byTove Jansson were on a 2-for-1 offer so

Just thought I'd let everyone know that a certain bookstore mega-chain (begins with 'W', ends with '-stones' ) are having a rather fantastic 'Buy One Get On Free' offer on selected childrens books - LOADS of classics are part of it! I picked up both Tove Jansson's Finn Family Moomintroll and The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett for a whopping...

Hello Kay! Margaret Atwood is one of the few writers whose books I've read quite a few of. Thus far, I've read: The Handmaid's Tale Cat's Eye Murder in the Dark (short stories etc) The Robber Bride Oryx and Crake ...and I have The Blind Assassin and Alias Grace sitting around waiting to be read! Of those I've read, Cat's Eye and The Robber Bride are amazing books, although quite different from Handmaid's Tale. I think if you loved Handmaid's Tale then I doubt Oryx and Crake will disappoint I read Oryx and Crake last week, and this is what I had to say:

Hey Jules! I've had Alias Grace hanging around for ages, but never seem to get around to reading it, so I'll be keeping track of your progress to see if it tempts me to bump it onto my TBR pile

Cheers guys Just supporting new writers etc. Plus it's quite short so you don't feel intimidated by it!

Disobedience by Naomi Alderman Paperback: 288 pages Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd (5 April 2007) Language English ISBN-10: 0141025956 ISBN-13: 978-0141025957 CLICK HERE TO READ AN EXTRACT (care of Penguin website) CLICK HERE FOR PENGUIN MINI-SITE FOR DISOBEDIENCE

I finished Disobedience by Naomi Alderman last night: a great novel, a brilliantly assured debut. I can definitely see myself returning to it so this one's a keeper It's beautifully written and contains some really vivid and memorable scenes. Think I'm gonna try and sneak a review in Up next, I think it's high time I picked up The Tenderness of Wolves, as I've been looking forward to it for ages.

They're both brilliant books I was so freaked out about how similar they were - especially since it hadn't been pointed out to me nor read anything about it! Luckily, a friend read them both after me and noticed it so I wasn't going mad

(List Update) Well, I had a bumper book reading time this weekend, what with being off work for Easter bank holidays and the sunny weather. I finished both Poppy Shakespeare (Clare Allen) and Oryx and Crake (Margaret Atwood) on Saturday, then embarked on Disobedience by Naomi Alderman yesterday and I only have 69 pages left! So I think my thoughts on the aforementioned are due: Up first, Poppy Shakespeare. Unfortunately, this never took off for me which was a shame as I was really looking forward to reading it. However, I think in this case, it was more to do with me than the novel itself: It was described was a cross between One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, a favourite of mine, and Catch 22, which is one of the few books I've ever given up on. It was more the latter, to my mind. I don't think either of these books are badly written, it's just that I don't 'get' the particular satirical humour they use. I think I prefer the humour to be darker. So I'm afraid we were never going to get along! On the writing itself, there were two major problems for me: firstly, the actual plot seemed to take aaaaggess to begin. The novel was developed from a short story and at times, it felt like it was a short story that had been stretched too far. This also could have informed the second point that annoyed me, which was the supporting characters. I felt like they were getting in the way of the narrative development as they didn't add anything to that or to N's and Poppy's characters. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest uses it's assorted characters in a much more effective way, either by becoming key characters or by demonstrating some aspect of the mental health institution. I felt that in Poppy Shakespeare, they were just 'gimmicky' and I didn't feel anything towards them at all. I ended up skimming most of the book, so I wasn't entirely sure what to make of it in the end. But if you love Catch 22, then I recommend you give this a try Happily, Oryx and Crake was a different experience. I've read quite a bit of Margaret Atwood over the years now, and she's not disappointed me yet. I wasn't sure if I should try Oryx and Crake as I'd heard mixed opinions of it, and Atwood's previous venture into sci-fi/dystopia, The Handmaid's Tale, is one of my favourite novels so I didn't want to be disappointed. But I wasn't at all! You could see how much research had been invested into the novel, but by using 'arty' Jimmy as the protagonist, it ensured that the science never overwhelmed the plot. The melancholic tone throughout was wonderfully consistent and appropriate, especially as Jimmy didn't have a wonderful life to begin with. His life seemed quite wasted even before 'what happened'. He was quite an empty person, I found, but strangely likeable so that you cared (or at least wanted to know what happened to him). Some of the names and brands were a bit silly, but the narrative was so strong that I soon got over that. However, I do think that might cause the novel to date quite quickly - which is always a problem with sci-fi set in the not-too-distant-future anyway. Overall, I really enjoyed Oryx and Crake: it's beautifully written, which also helps with Atwood's trademark way of being able to create discomfort as the reader is confronted with a sinister and somewhat morally bankrupt 'pre-acoplocalptic' world and its scarily blank aftermath (which, in a weird way, seemed better!).

I read it last year and I thought it was great. Oskar is a wonderful character and the book actually made me cry. A highlight from last year for me It's also suspiciously similar to Nicole Krauss' The History of Love: Safran Foer and Krauss are married (I believe), but it was so freaky to read one after the other!

That's actually a very good point, Susie I think I might try and do that, too.

Rennie - I've just posted on your blog, re: Lolita

I had to re-read Lolita and I'm very glad I did: you read it very differently, probably because you've 'got over' the shocks in it. You don't end up sympathising with HH, but I think a re-read helps you to see through him more and what a sad character he is (in both sense!). Definitely worth revisiting

I enjoyed The Robber Bride, I read it last year - where are you at in it?

Ah, fantastic! Thanks Rennie How are you getting on with Lolita, by the way?

Unusually for me, I've ended up reading two books simultaneously: as well as Poppy Shakespeare, I'm also delving into Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood. I really enjoy reading Atwood but I never particularly fancied Oryx and Crake. But my mum picked it up from a charity shop a while ago, and I noticed that in this week's Guardian Review, John Mullan is looking at it for April's Book Club. So, I thought I might read along! I started it last night and am really grabbed by it - managed to consume fifty pages, so that's a good sign. Meanwhile, I'm not sure what to make of Poppy Shakespeare yet. I'm just about halfway through but I feel as if the plot hasn't really started properly yet. The narrative voice is very strong and well-written, but the (deliberately) mangled English has made me feel quite relieved that I've started another book in clearer prose! I am keeping an open mind about it, tho'!

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon Paperback: 656 pages Publisher: Fourth Estate; New Ed edition (31 Jul 2001) Language English ISBN-10: 1841154938 ISBN-13: 978-1841154930 The 'blurb': The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay was the March book for my 'Doorstep Challenge'. It was a brilliant book to properly start it off - you just fly through it, yet absorb everything. Definitely one of those doorsteps that doesn't feel like a lot to wade through. I polished off a hundred pages on one day alone! The characterisation of Joe and Sam is wonderfully rendered from the start, and that's one aspect that's guaranteed to get my interest in a novel. Joe's escape at the beginning was jaw-droppingly amazing (and tense! My nerves were shot by the time he reached New York). Like Sarah Waters' recent novel The Night Watch, Kavalier & Clay offers a different perspective of WWII: specifically, it looks at how Jewish-Americans reacted to what was going on in Europe... although this is really only a small (but significant) part of a novel that's thematically rich. The other contextual backdrop was the burgeoning comic book industry: highly involving and clearly a labour of love on Chabon's part, that never appeared superfluous to the actual narrative of Joe and Sam. The description of comic strips and their stories were lovingly detailed, so much so that I could visualise the panels myself. When Chabon 'blurred' the two styles, , I could actually feel the morphing of the graphic story into the actual reality of what was going on. Brilliant! The 'fantastical' elements of the story that bookended the novel, such as Joe's escape from Prague and , actually heightened the sense of humanity and 'down-to-earthiness' of the characters and situations. I was impressed by the ending, as Chabon clearly decided to take his time so that what happened wasn't rushed, and drew a sense of the inevitable about it. There was one part of the novel that disappointed me slightly,

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon Paperback: 656 pages Publisher: Fourth Estate; New Ed edition (31 Jul 2001) Language English ISBN-10: 1841154938 ISBN-13: 978-1841154930 The 'blurb': The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay was the March book for my 'Doorstep Challenge'. It was a brilliant book to properly start it off - you just fly through it, yet absorb everything. Definitely one of those doorsteps that doesn't feel like a lot to wade through. I polished off a hundred pages on one day alone! The characterisation of Joe and Sam is wonderfully rendered from the start, and that's one aspect that's guaranteed to get my interest in a novel. Joe's escape at the beginning was jaw-droppingly amazing (and tense! My nerves were shot by the time he reached New York). Like Sarah Waters' recent novel The Night Watch, Kavalier & Clay offers a different perspective of WWII: specifically, it looks at how Jewish-Americans reacted to what was going on in Europe... although this is really only a small (but significant) part of a novel that's thematically rich. The other contextual backdrop was the burgeoning comic book industry: highly involving and clearly a labour of love on Chabon's part, that never appeared superfluous to the actual narrative of Joe and Sam. The description of comic strips and their stories were lovingly detailed, so much so that I could visualise the panels myself. When Chabon 'blurred' the two styles , I could actually feel the morphing of the graphic story into the actual reality of what was going on. Brilliant! The 'fantastical' elements of the story that bookended the novel, such as Joe's escape from Prague and , actually heightened the sense of humanity and 'down-to-earthiness' of the characters and situations. I was impressed by the ending, as Chabon clearly decided to take his time so that what happened wasn't rushed, and drew a sense of the inevitable about it. There was one part of the novel that disappointed me slightly,

I'm not sure what this month's (April) 'Chunky Choice' will be yet. For now, I'm going with a leaner one: Poppy Shakespeare by Clare Allen, and my thoughts etc on this can be found at my usual reading blog on the forum. I'll keep you posted!

I finished The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay on Friday (30th March), so I did manage to make it to the end of the month! A really considered, powerful book that beautifully uses a few characters and the space of a few years to really capture and explore New York during WWII. I thought the characters were beautiful, especially Sammy, and Joe's realisation at his cousin's 'sacrifice' towards the end of the novel made me cry! I was impressed by the ending, as Chabon clearly decided to take his time so that what happened wasn't rushed, and drew a sense of the inevitable about it. The 'fantastical' elements of the story that bookended the novel, such as Joe's escape from Prague and , actually heightened the sense of humanity and 'down-to-earthiness' of the characters and situations. The contextual backdrop of the burgeoning comic book industry was also highly involving and clearly a labour of love on Chabon's part, that never appeared superfluous to the actual narrative of Joe and Sam. The description of comic strips and their stories were lovingly detailed, so much so that I could visualise the panels myself. When Chabon 'blurred' the two styles ( ), I could actually feel the morphing of the graphic story into the actual reality of what was going on. Brilliant! I really enjoyed it, and will probably return to it again, as I feel I could get even more out of it with re-reading. If you're considering undertaking your own doorstep challenge and are stuck for books, then I highly recommend this as you won't even remember how chunky it is as you fly through it!

Ooh I totally forgot! Thanks Nici!